Rafael Rozendaal's Into Time, an algorithmically lenticular painting that changes depending on the viewing angle. Image: Phillips

Molly Soda's Inbox Full is an eight-hour web cam video of the artist reading unread messages from her Tumblr inbox aloud. Image: Phillips

Sabrina Ratte's Aurae is a video of an animated photograph processed by a video synthesizer. Image: Phillips

Ilja Karilampi's New York Minute is a 60-second compiliation of a year's worth of experiences. Image: Phillips

Silvia Bianchi and Ricardo Juarez's "Turning the World Upside Down," a yoga swing made with digitally-printed fabric.

Paddles On–a collaboration between Phillips and Tumblr–included twenty pieces, cutting a wide path through the nebulous category. There was an interactive website, a YouTube video, a physical print with screens embedded in it, an animated GIF, a few sculptures and a pair of prints made from digital screenshots–one from combat video game, one from Google Maps. After the last whack of the gavel, there were bids for every single piece–a total of $90,000 in sales.

>What does it mean, exactly, to buy and own a website or a rendering made in a 3D graphics program?

"It was a real breakthrough for the field," says Lindsay Howard, the New York-based curator who chose the pieces for the sale. "For the last 20 plus years, this work has primarily been supported by non-profits and artist-run spaces and universities that have been incredible incubators. But it hasn't had the same sort of market recognition it deserves...It broke down a barrier that may have existed between a larger contemporary art collector base and artists who have digital practices. The people who bid on these pieces looked at this work and they saw it as fresh contemporary art, which I think is an exceptional thing to happen for these artists."

But with new art comes new ideas about ownership. What does it mean, exactly, to buy and own a website or a rendering made in a 3D graphics program? "There was a lot of curiosity around that," says Megan Newcome, Director of Digital Strategy at Phillips. "It's a challenge for new collectors, or even seasoned buyers, to understand, 'What am I owning? And what does the artist want me to do with this work?'"

In many of the cases, buying a digital work meant getting a USB drive and certificate of authenticity. Other pieces came with their own unique terms. The collector who bought Rafael Rozendaal's ifnoyes.com, an interactive website that looks a little bit like a digital sunset viewed through a broken mirror, will have to keep the site available for public use–and renew the domain name every year. "The artist has to make it really clear–is this an editioned work? Does this have to remain public?" says Newcome. "It's up to the buyer and the artist—they really have to have a contract with one another." Annie Werner, Tumblr's arts evangelist and co-organizer of the event, says that generating conversation around these issues was very much the point. "Education was a huge component of this project," Werner says. "We wanted to make those things known and clear about collecting this art."

Still, many of the works will have a surprisingly traditional post-acquisition existence. Tumblr itself bought Jamie Zigelbaum's Pixel, a physical work which renders the fundamental unit of digital representation as one square meter, touch-sensitive light box (it'll go up in the company's office). Howard says that collectors are already calling her up for recommendations on what types of monitors are best suited for displaying their new digital pieces. And in the case of some digital works, even the physical media used to store the things got some artistic attention. Joe Hamilton, whose computer-generated video and related Tumblr Hyper Geography was sold at the auction, created an elaborate display case for the USB drive that held the work.

"The video itself will remain free to float around anywhere online and maybe even change forms, so it was important for me to make the considered physical object to create something tangible for the buyer," Hamilton says. "There are obvious difficulties in selling online works, so this was an attempt by me to bridge the gap so the artwork can co-exist online and in the art market without compromise." Or, as Werner puts it, when you're putting down one or two thousand dollars for a digital file, you don't just get it on a standard Office Depot USB stick. "You get the Lexus of thumb drives."